Smithsonian Magazine on War Rugs

Attorney Mark Gold has an oriental rug in his western Massachusetts home that most people call “nice-looking” until he tells them to inspect it more closely. Then they’re enthralled, because this is no run-of-the-mill textile—it’s what is called an Afghan war rug, and what it depicts is somber and stunning: cleverly mixed with age-old botanical and geometric designs are tanks, hand grenades and helicopters. “It’s a beautiful piece in its own right,” says Gold, “but I also think telling a cultural story in that traditional medium is fascinating.”

by Mimi Kirk

Weavings of War Exhibition Review


From The Salt Lake Tribune.

Hozain, who weaves on a loom in her home, is one of dozens of textile artists from around the globe whose work is included in a traveling national exhibit.
…
The common thread among these women of South Africa, Vietnam, Peru and the Middle East is the influence of warfare on their communities, said Lisa Gabbert, a humanities professor at Utah State University and project director. “This exhibit is important because it places women’s voices at the forefront of a public discussion on war,” Gabbert said. “Women’s voices, particularly the voices of poor women from developing countries, are usually left out of such discussions.”

Previous Posts about Weavings of War:New York opening, Hali review, , exhibition photos, and example of WoW rug and regular Baluchi pattern.

Miami University Art Museum Exhibition Link Roundup

Here are a few links about the exhibition at the Miami University Art Museum.

Some of the rugs in the museum exhibition serve as warnings to people to be aware of unexploded ordinances, illustrating what not to touch. Others contain maps and other images that detail the Soviet occupation, and later, the terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001.

“These rugs are quite mysterious,” he [Kremmer] said. “They haven’t been studied in any great detail, who made them and why, what are the messages. That’s why this exhibit is important.”

Link from The Journal News
And a Symposium description from The Oxford Press

The featured exhibition, “Tanks, Helicopters, Guns and Grenades: The Afghan War Rugs,” explores how the changing political landscape of Afghanistan, beginning with the Soviet invasion of 1979, has influenced the rug weavers of the area as they replaced traditional motifs with modern weaponry and warfare.

From The Middletown Journal

The result is an art form that resides precariously “alongside contemporary and avant-garde art, and political
art and propaganda,” Marsh said. This exhibition will showcase approximately 80 war rugs from a private New York collection and offers a rare opportunity to investigate the complex historical, political and social realities of this region.

From Richard Jones’ Blog
Another Richard Jones’ blog entry with photos by Nick Daggy

Miami University Art Museum War Rug Exhibition

Warrug.com is proud and honored to lend more than 80 rugs from our collection to the Miami University Art Museum for an exhibition titled, Tanks, Helicopters, Guns and Grenades: The Afghan War Rugs of the 1980s-2007. The wide ranging and thorough exhibition runs through December 15, 2007.

The show was curated by Natalie Marsh, who did excellently selecting, organizing, and hanging the rugs. The Museum will host a symposium with Christopher Kremmer as keynote and featuring the very respected Afghan scholar Thomas E. Gouttierre, Homayun Sidky, Daniel Prior, and Weavings of War, Fabrics of Memory curator Ariel Zeitlin Cooke. (Previous post about The Weavings of War, and another about its opening in New York.) I will be giving a gallery talk on collecting Tuesday, September 25 at 4:00 pm.

Special thanks to everyone who worked organizing, preparing, indexing, and hanging the show, as well as everyone who supported this important exhibition at Miami University.

Event description.
Exhibition information.

Curator, Natalie Marsh, giving a tour of the exhibition to Museum members on opening night.